Meetings and events startup HeadBox has launched a tool that allows users to compare projected travel emissions for attendee travel to potential in-person meeting venues, the company announced this month.
Dubbed Journeys, the tool sits within the company's HeadBox Zero sustainability suite.
Nearly "80 percent of carbon emissions for in-person events comes from travel to and from the venue," according to HeadBox.
To calculate greenhouse gas emissions for attendee travel to different sites, HeadBox uses the U.K. government's conversion methods, a company spokesperson told BTN. To "calculate the route and distance traveled for each mode of [ground] transport," HeadBox uses Google Maps. For flights the company uses the great-circle distance method, a formula to calculate the shortest distance between two points, the spokesperson said. Then, the company adds the "relevant emissions" per kilometer to determine total emissions per trip, the spokesperson said. The company's travel emissions calculations are currently not monitored by an external entity.
Journeys is included at no additional charge within HeadBox Zero, a suite of tools attached to the company’s HeadBox Business corporate meetings management solution.
HeadBox launched in the U.K. in 2015 and, in 2021, received £2 million in funding to launch in the United States. HeadBox has yet to launch in the U.S., but plans to imminently, the company said.